


Time & Date

by Naddy



Category: Guardians of the Galaxy (Movies), Guardians of the Galaxy - All Media Types
Genre: Baby Groot, Clocks, Gen, Human Biology, Team as Family, Time - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-05-10
Updated: 2015-05-10
Packaged: 2018-03-29 22:53:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,160
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3913672
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Naddy/pseuds/Naddy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Your clock is wrong. I will fix it.” Drax offered. A big blue hand reached for the clock and was quickly swatted away with prejudice.<br/>“No, you won’t. It’s not wrong. It’s just not set to Nova,” Peter quipped back.</p><p>In which the team learns a little about human time standards and biology.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Time & Date

**Author's Note:**

> Since its extremely unlikely that everyone uses the earth system for time, I made a lil piece here with Peter explaining the difference in Nova and Terran time. The Nova Time is based on the adjusted Plank Time Units from Echoes of Earth, which you can find here: http://www.projectrho.com/public_html/rocket/futuremeasure.php
> 
>  
> 
> Unit .............................Size............................Conventional Equivalence  
> 1 new second....................................................0.54 old second  
> 1 new minute..............100 new seconds ..........0.90 old minute 54 old seconds)  
> 1 new hour.................100 new minutes............1.5 old hours (90 old minutes)  
> 1 new day...................20 new hours..................1.2 old days (30 old hours)  
> 1 new week.................5 new days.....................0.89 old week (6.2 old days)  
> 1 new month................6 new weeks.................1.2 old months (5.3 old weeks)  
> 1 new year...................10 new months..............1.025 old years (12 old months)

Every clock on the ship was managed by the ship’s computer. Every clock and timepiece on the ship was correct and perfectly in sync with the rest of the galaxy. Every clock, except one, which was fastened on of the console on Peter’s seat in the cockpit, and consistently showed itself to be incorrect. With plenty of bigger worries, no one had said anything about it or even thought about it, until one morning a few weeks after Ronan, when there was some slack between jobs.

  
Peter was idly sitting in the cockpit, working on repairing a rocket boot, with Drax sitting in the seat to his right, sharpening his knives. The ship moved easily on autopilot towards their next destination. They sat like this for some time, until Drax noticed the clock next to Peter. It had a digital face that displayed numbers and symbols of Terran origin, but did not appear to be in sync with the ship’s clock.

  
“Your clock is wrong. I will fix it.” Drax offered, setting his knife down. A big blue hand reached for the clock and was quickly swatted away with prejudice.

  
“No, you won’t. It’s not wrong. It’s just not set to Nova,” Peter quipped back.

  
“Then it is wrong? Nova Standard Time is the correct time, used by nearly all planets, used by all traders and vendors, to keep confusion from differing days and hours from causing political or commercial incidents. That makes it the correct time,” Drax said, firm and confident.

  
“It’s set to Terra time. Earth doesn’t use the same time units that the rest of the galaxy does.”

  
“I do not see the point in using Terra time. You are not on Terra,” the blue man reminded Peter.

  
“He’s got a point. The galaxy uses Nova Standard for a reason, idiot. ” Rocket climbed onto the console with a gun in one hand and Groot in the other. He set Groot next to him, and began dismantling the gun for cleaning. Groot swayed and waved. Peter waved back.

  
“As much as I hate to admit it, Peter, Rocket’s right.” Even Gamora leaned in to the conversation from where she was attempting to update the ship’s translation software.

  
“If I was making us all use Terran time, we would be missing every meeting. I know this. Relax guys. This clock is for me. Do you know what a biological clock is?”

  
Drax frowned some more. “Is that your biological clock?” He asked, pointing at the piece next to Peter.

  
Peter grinned. “No. But it helps mine. So, Nova and Terra have the same type of units, which is a miracle in itself. Seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, years, right?”

  
“Right,” came the peanut gallery.

  
“But they’re different lengths. A Terran second is about twice as long as a Nova second. A Terran minute is only a little longer than a Nova minute. A Terran hour is much shorter than a Nova hour. A Terran day is also much shorter than a Nova day. Terran days have twenty four hours, Nova days only have twenty.”

  
“This does not explain what makes the clock biological. Is the clock alive?” Drax guessed again. Rocket bristled a little at this idea. Groot simply kept swaying, and Gamora looked more curious.

  
“No. Nothing like that. So the point is, Terran time is shorter overall. And it's based on our sun. And so are our bodies. We’re daytime creatures. So we usually get sleepy at night when it's dark. And to make sure that all works correctly, our bodies have a system of chemicals and hormones that keep time for us in a general sense. That’s my biological clock.”

  
“Well that’s stupid and primitive biology,” Rocket snorted, “you miss all the good stuff that way. And that makes your body totally inflexible.”

  
“Human brains need sleep or we go insane. This makes sure we get sleep when it's dark and we’re supposed to, and awake during the daytime when we should be hunting and gathering.” Peter shrugged. “Nova Standard doesn’t work for my body. I set my sleep schedule by Terran time.”

  
“How much sleep do Terrans need?” Gamora asked.

  
“Seven to nine Terran hours of sleep for every seventeen to twenty hours of awakeness. Five to six Nova hours of sleep for every twelve to fourteen of awakeness, roughly. It’s not too bad because Yondu helped me get lights on this ship that provide the right type of light that mimics the sun from Terra, which helps my body know when it's supposed to be in awake mode. The right type of light is important for human health.”

  
“I sleep when I’m tired. I’m awake when I’m not.” Rocket shrugged. “It’s as easy as that. Groot doesn’t. Trust humans to make it all complicated and regulated.”

  
“My home had days about the same length as Nova’s Standard. We typically slept for six hours and were awake for the other fourteen,” Drax chimed in.

  
“After my training, I only required between two and three Nova hours of sleep per day, but I could be awake for several days at a time if it was required,” Gamora stated. “So what do these letters and numbers mean?” She pointed at the side of the timepiece’s face, where there was a different set of Terran symbols.

  
“Month, day, and year. Nova has ten months, we have twelve, all named differently and with different amounts of days.”

  
“That seems arbitrary,” Drax observed.

  
“It is. I’m not even sure why they’re like that,” Peter admitted.

  
“So what’s the point of keeping Terran days in space? Is that tied to your biological clock as well?” Rocket’s eyes narrowed. “You’re not going to go into heat, are you?”

  
“Oh god no. Humans don’t do that. No. That’s so I can keep track of human celebrations and holidays. Memories. Things like that.” Peter waved his hand. “You know. I have a clock on Terran time in my bunk too.”

  
“What types of holidays do Terrans have?” Gamora asked, making herself comfortable.

  
“Probably shitty ones,” Rocket muttered.

  
“There’s all kinds. Different people in different places had different ones too. There’s Christmas, which used to be religious, but is now mostly about family and gift giving. Halloween, about tricks and scaring people. Valentine’s Day, about romantic love.”

  
Gamora nodded slowly, and Rocket cleaned his gun.

  
“I’ll let you know the next time we hit a Terran holiday,” Peter suggested.

  
Drax and Gamora looked interested, Groot still beamed up at them, and Rocket looked miffed by human culture.

  
“Special days for gifts and tricks? I just do that whenever I want. It’s more fun that way,” he complained.

  
“It has been a while since I celebrated the holidays of my people. I would enjoy learning about Terran customs,” Drax said with a nod. Gamora tightened her lips, and Peter didn’t ask.

  
“It can be fun. You’ll see.” Peter smiled and flipped the tape deck on.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm considering expanding this to include snippets of Peter sharing Terran celebrations with the rest of the team. Thoughts on that? Thoughts on the writing? I'm shifting from more serious academic writing to something more fun here, and I'm not sure its vibrant or lively enough. It seems a little choppy and undeveloped to me yet.


End file.
